History on trial

Signature Event

Holocaust history

Deborah E. Lipstadt, professor at Emory University, served as a historical consultant
to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. She will deliver the 2018 Solomon-Tenenbaum
Lectureship in Jewish Studies.

If you're going

The Solomon-Tenenbaum Lectureship in Jewish Studies is free and open to the public.
A book signing will follow the talk.

When: 7 p.m., Sunday, Jan. 28

Where: My Carolina Alumni Center

Deborah E. Lipstadt’s visit to Carolina comes at an important moment in the local
and national conversation about how our society understands history and its ties to
the present and future.

A scholar who won a famous legal battle over a Holocaust denier, Lipstadt will speak
about modern anti-Semitism during the 2018 Solomon-Tenenbaum Lectureship in Jewish
Studies on Jan. 28.

“Dr. Lipstadt will bring meaningful insight to our community during a time when public
dialogue about race, religion and understanding are critical,” says Samuel Tenenbaum,
who helped establish the Solomon-Tenenbaum Lectureship in Jewish Studies almost three
decades ago.

Lipstadt, Dorot professor of modern Jewish history and Holocaust studies at Emory
University, wrote “Denial: Holocaust History on Trial,” chronicling her 10-week trial
in London after being sued for libel by David Irving for calling him a Holocaust denier.
The judge ultimately ruled in favor of Lipstadt and found Irving to be a “neo-Nazi
polemicist” who “perverts” history and engages in “racist” and “anti-Semitic” discourse.

The Daily Telegraph of London described the 2000 trial as having “done for the new
century what the Nuremberg tribunals or the Eichmann trial did for earlier generations.”

Her book was adapted into the 2016 movie “Denial” featuring Rachel Weisz and Tom Wilkinson.

Lipstadt’s talk titled “Contemporary Anti-Semitism: An Enduring Form of Prejudice
and Hatred,” will discuss the major issues involved in her lawsuit, link them to today’s
racial discourse and explore how communities can address this growing societal concern.

Federica Clementi, director of the College of Arts and Sciences’ Jewish studies program
and an English professor, teaches courses on the Holocaust. She says Lipstadt’s experiences
offer a recent and concrete example for students to consider that further amplify
concepts discussed in the classroom.

"It’s important for us to hear from someone who has experience as an intellectual,
a teacher, a scholar and has experience rooted in a life event,” she says.

The Solomon-Tenenbaum Lectureship in Jewish Studies is presented annually to students,
faculty and the community. The endowed lectureship is a signature event from the College
of Arts and Science made possible by benefactors Melvin and Judith Solomon of Charleston,
and Samuel and Inez Tenenbaum of Columbia, whose generosity created a Jewish studies
endowment to support the lectureship, enhance the library collection and establish
a chair of Jewish Studies.

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